The Hemp Business Leaders of Texas (HILT), alongside enterprise proprietor Sabihe Kahn, have filed a federal lawsuit difficult the constitutionality of a sequence of police raids on hemp companies in Allen, Texas.
Filed within the US District Court docket for the Japanese District of Texas by distinguished hashish legal professional David Sergi, the lawsuit names the Metropolis of Allen, Allen Police Division, Collin County Sheriff, and the US Drug Enforcement Company (DEA) as defendants. The swimsuit alleges that these companies violated the constitutional rights of HILT members by way of illegal arrests and raids, citing improper characterization of authorized hemp as hashish and using flawed testing strategies.
On August 27, 2024, Allen Police, in coordination with the DEA, raided Mr. Kahn’s hemp enterprise, Allen Smoke and Vape, together with different HILT-affiliated outlets, underneath search warrants based mostly on outdated testing requirements.
The lawsuit claims these actions defied a earlier federal courtroom order prohibiting the DEA from utilizing subpoenas to analyze members of the Allen Vape Coalition, which preceded HILT. The swimsuit alleges that legislation enforcement intentionally circumvented the federal ruling to proceed focusing on these companies.
Mr. Kahn, a 70-year-old neighborhood member and law-abiding enterprise proprietor, was arrested and detained with out bond for 2 days, underscoring what the lawsuit describes as extreme power and biased legislation enforcement ways.
The swimsuit highlights the procedural errors and constitutional points surrounding the raids, together with unreasonable searches and seizures, defective THC testing strategies, and lack of possible trigger.
Allen Police allegedly employed subject exams recognized to supply inaccurate outcomes, treating all THC content material as Delta-9 THC, thereby making authorized hemp seem illegal. HILT asserts that Certificates of Evaluation (COAs) have been obtainable for all merchandise on the time of the seizures, verifying their compliance with the authorized THC restrict underneath Texas and federal legislation. Regardless of this, merchandise have been seized, and the companies confronted adverse public notion as a result of raids.
Additional complicating issues, the DEA issued subpoenas to Mr. Kahn and different HILT members, demanding intensive private and monetary data underneath the pretext of a ‘fishing expedition.’ A choose subsequently halted these subpoenas, citing lack of lawful authority.
Following this, Allen’s Metropolis Council moved to limit zoning for brand spanking new hemp and vape shops, successfully limiting the expansion of hemp-related companies within the space. Regardless of authorized arguments introduced by HILT’s attorneys, the council later handed modified restrictions that, whereas not barring present shops, prohibited new hemp companies from opening within the metropolis’s industrial zones.
HILT’s lawsuit contends that these raids, restrictions, and public stigmatization have precipitated substantial monetary hurt to hemp enterprise house owners and discouraged neighborhood participation within the authorized hemp market. The affiliation claims that adverse publicity has eroded buyer belief and deterred potential new members from becoming a member of the group, finally limiting its capability to assist and characterize Texas’s hemp business.
